Report: County's pretrial release policies need work

Releasing accused criminals on fair terms from Monterey County Jail while they await trial may involve a serious overhaul of the county's "own recognizance" policies, according to the Crime and Justice Institute.

CJI, at the behest of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, exhaustively examined the county's pretrial services program in May. The program was implemented in October 2012 within the Monterey County Probation Department.

Previously, members of MILPA (Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement) and Civil Rights Coalition for Jail Reform have made their voices heard on the county's program for releasing the accused. Earlier this year, during public meetings regarding the jail expansion project, they asked the board to conduct an assessment of pretrial services.

These groups cite a local bail schedule that is stricter than elsewhere and restrictive own-recognizance release policies for a large number of unsentenced inmates awaiting trial in the jail. "Own recognizance" policies allow defendants to be released without paying bail and on a written promise to return to court.

In January, pretrial inmates composed about 85 percent of the jail population. By March, that number hovered around 64 percent, according to Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller.

He credited expanded own-recognizance release policies at the jail and a speedy misdemeanor trial court system.

But, as CJI found this week, that may not be enough.

In an 18-page report, CJI, a branch of Community Resources for Justice, found several serious disconnects in the system that may, in fact, run counter to Monterey County's goal of reducing its jail population.

Much of CJI's report centered on further expanding own-recognizance release policies.

To that end, CJI recommended police departments countywide adopt the jail's own-recognizance policy, which allows a number of defendants to be cited and released prior to "spending resources and transporting individuals who will be released immediately by the Sheriff's Office."

CJI also recommended Monterey County adopt an own-recognizance policy based not solely on the crime charged, but also upon risk. To do so would require risk assessments be performed for all, not select, inmates.

Only 24 percent of all defendants booked into the jail in 2013 were released prior to arraignment based on the bail schedule or in accordance with the Sheriff's Office own-recognizance policy.

Between October 2012 and May 2014, 14 percent of all defendants were released prior to arraignment on their own recognizance. An additional 10 percent met bail previous to arraignment.

"For many defendants, the first opportunity to request a departure from the bail schedule comes at the bail hearing, which is scheduled at least two days — and often up to a week — after arraignment," according to CJI.

Despite the high success rate of own-recognizance release with supervision — 88 percent were successful in 2013 — of the 347 defendants assessed last year, only 39 percent were released under those circumstances. The remaining 61 percent were detained on bail.

Recommendation for straight own recognizance — release without supervision — was extremely low. CJI found Probation recommended supervised own-recognizance in 43 percent of cases and straight own-recognizance in only one case.

Low-risk assessed defendants were recommended for own recognizance with supervision 73 percent of the time, whereas only 2 percent were recommended for straight own-recognizance release. The remaining 25 percent were denied release.

CJI pointed out the fault in this policy, "... particularly considering that defendants of similar risk levels who leave jail by posting their bond are typically not supervised at all."

Despite the plethora of cases referred to the Monterey County Public Defender's Office — which represents clients who can't afford their own attorneys — defense attorneys rarely have access to defendants prior to arraignment. This only serves to lengthen the time until bail can be addressed, CJI said.

"Defense counsel very rarely requests that bail be addressed during arraignment due to the insufficient time to prepare a defense," according to CJI. "Rarely will judges address bail when requested by the defense counsel."

Bail is typically addressed two days after arraignment, resulting in extending a defendant's time in jail who might otherwise meet the criteria for release, CJI said.

Most Monterey County defendants aren't even assessed for pretrial release, according to CJI.

"The local justice system's strategy for pretrial assessment is not to assess all or even most defendants, but to target a felony population that has been identified — based on the booking charges — as the most likely to be released pretrial," CJI said.

CJI estimated 80 percent of detained felony defendants are ineligible to even be considered for release based on Probation's policy.

Although a number are assessed as having met the criteria for pretrial release, local judges only followed Probation's recommendations 68 percent of the time, according to CJI. Even those recommendations, CJI said, are highly subjective and not based on evidence.

"Release recommendations are not consistent with assessed risk," CJI said. "Professional judgment and experience are indispensable and should not be undervalued; however, subjective decision-making may lead to inconsistent results and runs counter to the County's efforts to implement an evidence-based system."

CJI, however, lauded the Probation Department on several points, including its collection of pertinent risk assessment information for the defendant population it does assess and for maintaining guidelines for appropriate responses to non-compliance with supervised own-recognizance release.

The Probation Department has also developed "robust reporting and data quality protocols from some [prison realignment] initiatives," according to CJI. Further, leadership within the pretrial service agency functions cohesively as a group, CJI said.

The Community Corrections Partnership is scheduled to delve into the report at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Probation Department Training Room, 20 E. Alisal St., second floor.